Stem-winding watch



(ModeL) H. ABBOTT. Stem Winding Watch.

Patented Jan. 18, 1881.

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N, PErERs, FHOTO LITHOGRAPNER, WASHINGTON D c.

UNITED STATES PATENT @rrrcee HENRY ABBOTT, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

STEM-WINDING WATCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 236,748, dated January 18, 1881. Application filed July 14, 1880. (ModeL) To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HENRY ABBOTT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Stem- Winding Device for Watches, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

The object of my invention is to effect an arrangement that will facilitate the changing of key-winding watches into stem-winders.

The main feature of my improvement consists in the construction ofa stem-winding device, in which all of the parts are fitted to a piece of metal entirely separate and distinct from the watch, in such a manner that it may be attached to or detached from the watch as a whole without disarranging the parts.

In the accompanying drawings, all of the views of which are enlarged, Figure 1 is a plan view of the main plate of a watch with the improved winding device attached, having the wheels in gear for winding; Fig. 2, the same, with the wheels in gear for setting the hands. Fig. 3 is a sectional view, showing both plates ofthe watch with the winding device at tached, also showing the mainspring-barrel and the center pinion. Fig. 4 is a plan view of the stem-winding device detached from the watch; Fig. 5, the reverse side of the plate A with the pinion attached; Fig. 6, the reverse side of the ratchet-bridge, showing the ratchetwheel, click, and click-spring.

Similar letters referto similar out the different views.

A is a plate, which may be made ofbrass or other metal, to which are attached all of the stem-winding parts, and which is itself attached to the main plate of the watch E by the screws 44. This plate A, for convenience in fitting, I make round, with a flange on its edge, as shown in Fig. 5, the under central part of the plate A passing entirely through a hole in the plate E provided for it, and the flanged part resting on the plate E; but it is obvious that it may he made any other shape. It may also be attached to the other watchplate, F.

B is the ratchet-bridge, covering the ratchet-wheel f, click 6, and click-spring g, and is the same that is employed in many key-windparts thro u ghing watches, except that it is made in a peculiar shape to accommodate the action of the yoke O, as will be hereinafter more fully shown.

C is a rocking bar or yoke, which is pivoted on a shoulder of the screw D, and carries on its under side the crown-wheel R, (which is also pivoted on the screw D,) and the two flat wheels T and U.

S is the stem, made in the usual manner, passing through the case, having a crown on its outer end and a square on its inner end, which fits in the square hole through the pinion O, as shown at O.

P is abridge, fastened to the plate A by the screws 6 6, under which the pinion 0 turns, and against the side of which the pinion O finds a bearing for its shoulder. The beveled teeth of the pinion O passing through the plate A form a beveled gear with the crown-wheel R.

The lever His pivoted to the plate A on the shoulder of the screw which holds it in position, and when moved from right to left turns the yoke G on its pivot D, so that the wheel T comes out of gear with the ratchet-wheelf, and the wheel U J, which turns the cannon-pinion K, which carries the hands, as shown in Fig. 2. When the yoke O is released by the lever H it is thrown back to its former position, as shown in Fig. 1, by the yoke-spring Gr. This yokespring G, in order to economize space, is made in a peculiar manner, as follows: Instead of being a single straight or curved spring, as is usual, it is made double or with two prongs, one of which rests against the yoke O and the other against the screw or stud 5. The opposite end of the spring G, or the part where the two prongs are joined together, is secured to the plate A by a shoulderscrew, on which the spring turns sufficiently to allow both prongs of the spring to act. The advantage of this style of spring is in the fact that the same amount of action can be obtained from it that can be obtained from one made in the usual manner twice its length.

The wheel J turns on the huh I, which is flanged, as shown at 1. This hub is secured to the plate A by the screw '2'. For convenience in adjusting the pitching or depth between the wheel J and the cannon-pinion K the goes into gear with the wheel' screw-hole in the hub l is made eccentric with it, so that after the plate A has been secured to the plate E by the two screws 4 4 the hubscrew'r. may be loosened sufficiently to allow the hub to move, which may then be moved around on this eccentric until the proper pitchin gis attained between the wheelJ and the cannon-pinion K, when the screw 2' is turned home and apin put through ahole in the opposite side of the hub 1 provided for it, thus securing the hub to the plate permanently. When the wheels are in gear for setting the hands, as shown in Fig. 2, the proper pitching between the wheels U and J is maintained by the point of the yoke O resting against the screw or stud 5.

The ratchet-bridge B and the yoke O are made of such shape that when the wheels are in gear for winding, as shown in Fig. 1, the yoke O, resting against the bridge B, maintains the proper pitching between the wheel T and the ratchet-wheel f. This is also a feature of the invention, for it will be seen that if the periphery b of the bridge B is concentric with the ratchet-wheelf, and the periphery c of the yoke C is concentric with the wheel T,

then the pitching between the wheel T and the wheelf will be the same at whatever point these peripheries touch each other, and it only remains to make these peripheries the proper size to make the pitching between these two wheels T and f automatic or self-adjusting, whatever the relative positions of the bridge B and the plate A, always providing they are near enough together so that these peripheries b and 0 will meet.

It will be seen that 1 have employed in this stem-winding device parts that are not new but those features for which novelty is claimed are distinctly described. The system of winding employed is that known as the rockingbar system, and is the one commonly used in American watches; but it will be readily seen by those familiar with the art that the sliding-clutch system, or the one used in most Swiss watches, might be employed and attached to the plate A in the same manner as the one described in the foregoing specification.

The intention being to supply the watchrepairer with a completed stenrwinding device which he can readily apply to a watch when he may not have the facilities for making or applying one made in the usual manner, it is evident that the object may be attained virtually, though not exactly as described, by attaching some part of the winding deviceas, for instance, the yoke-spring G or the lever H-to the plate E instead of the plate A.

\Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A stem-winding device so constructed that it may be attached to or detached from a watch as a whole without disarranging its parts.

2. The plate A, or its equivalent, in combination with the main plate of a watch, E, and the stem-winding parts of the watch, substantially as described, and for the purpose specified.

3. The combination, in a sternwinding watch, of the wheel J, the eccentric hub 1, the plate A, and the cannon-pinion K, substan; tially as specified.

4. The combination, in a stem winding watch, of the yoke-spring G, yoke (J, plate A, and main plate E, substantially as described.

5. The combination, in a stem-winding device, of the ratchet-bridge B, having the periphery b, and the yoke 0, having the periphery 0, together with the ratchet-wheel f and the yoke-wheel T, substantially as specified.

HENRY ABBOTT.

Witnesses:

O. E. ARMSTRONG, GHs. V. PEYN. 

